APPENDIX. [NO. I.] THE OHIO COMPANY.* In the year 1748, Thomas Lee, one of His Majesty's Council in Virginia, formed the design of effecting settlements on the wild lands West of the Allegheny mountains, through the agency of an association of gentlemen. Before this date there were no English residents in those regions. A few traders wandered from tribe to tribe, and dwelt among the Indians, but they neither cultivated nor occupied the lands. With the view of carrying his plan into operation, Mr. Lee associated himself with twelve other persons in Virginia and Maryland, and with Mr. Hanbury, a merchant in London, who formed what they called, "THE OHIO COMPANY." Lawrence Washington, and his brother Augustine Washington, (two brothers of George Washington,) were among the first who engaged in this scheme. A petition was presented to the King in behalf of the company, which was approved, and five hundred thousand acres of land were granted almost in the terms requested by the company. The object of the company was to settle the lands and to carry on the Indian trade upon a large scale. Hitherto the trade with the Western Indians had been mostly in the hands of the Pennsylvanians. The company conceived that they might derive an important advantage over their competitors in this trade from the water communication of the Potomac and the eastern branches of the Ohio, whose head-waters approximated each other. The lands were to be chiefly taken on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongahela and Kenhawa rivers, and west of the Alleghenies. The privilege was reserved, however, by the company of embracing a portion of the lands on the north side of the river, if it should be deemed expedient. Two hundred thousand acres were to be selected immediately, and to be held for ten years free from quit-rent or any tax to the King, on condition that the company should at their own expense seat one hundred families on the lands within seven years, and build a fort and maintain a garrison sufficient to protect the settlement. The first steps taken by the Company were to order Mr. Hanbury,' their agent in London, to send over for their use two cargoes of goods *From Washington's writings, edited by Jared Sparks, 2 vols.; Appendix pp. 478-483. suited to the Indian trade, amounting in the whole to four thousand pounds sterling: one cargo to arrive in November, 1749; the other in March following. They resolved, also, that such roads should be made and houses built, as would facilitate the communication from the head of navigation on the Potomac river across the mountains to some point on the Monongahela. And as no attempt at establishing settlements could safely be made without some previous arrangements with the Indians, the company petitioned the government of Virginia to invite them to a treaty. As a preliminary to other proceedings, the company also sent out Mr. Christopher Gist with instructions to explore the country, exam. ine the quality of the lands, keep a journal of his adventures, draw as accurate a plan of the country as his observations would permit, and report the same to the board. On his first tour he was absent nearly seven months, penetrated the country for several hundred miles north of the Ohio, visited the Twigtwee Indians, and proceeded as far south as the falls of that river. In November following, (1751.) he passed down the south side of the river, as far as the Great Kenhawa, and spent the winter in exploring the lands on that route. Meantime the Indians had failed to assemble at Logstown, where they had been invited by the Governor of Virginia to hold a treaty. It was natural that the traders, who had already got possession of the ground, should endeavor to bias the Indians, and throw obstacles in the way of any interference from another quarter. The French were likewise tampering with them, and from political motives were using means to withdraw them from every kind of alliance or intimacy with the English. The company found that it would be in vain to expect much progress in their designs, till measures had been adopted for winning over the Indians; and accordingly the proposed treaty of Logstown took place the next year, when Mr. Gist attended as their agent, to look to the interests of any settlements that might be made on the south-east side of the Ohio. This treaty was concluded June 13th, 1752. Colonel Fry, and two other Commissioners, were present on the part of Virginia. It is remarkable, that, in the debates attending the negotiation of this treaty, the Indians took care to disclaim a recognition of the English title to any of these lands. In a speech to the Commissioners, one of the old Chiefs said: "You acquainted us yesterday with the King's right to all the lands in Virginia, as far as it is settled, and back from thence to the sun-setting, whenever he shall think fit to extend his settlements. You produced also a copy of his deed from the Onondaga Council at the treaty of Lancaster, (1744,) and desired that your brethren of the Ohio might likewise confirm the deed. We are well acquainted that our Chief Council at the treaty of Lancaster confirmed a deed to you for a quantity of land in Virginia which you have a right to; but we never understood before you told us yesterday, that the lands then sold were to extend farther to the sun-setting, than the hill on the other side of the Allegheny Hill, so that we can give you no farther answer. Hence it appears that the Indians west of the Ohio, who inhabited the lands, had never consented to any treaty ceding them to the English, * MSS. Journal of the Commissioners. nor understood that this cession extended beyond the Allegheny mountains. When the company was first instituted, Mr. Lee, its projector, was its principal organ and most efficient member. He died soon afterwards, and then the chief management fell on Lawrence Washington, who had engaged in the enterprise with an enthusiasm and energy peculiar to his character. His agency was short, however, as his rapidly declining health soon terminated in his death. Several of the company's shares changed hands. Governor Dinwiddie and George Mason became proprietors. There were originally but twenty shares, and the Company never consisted of more than that number of members. Mr. Lawrence Washington had a project for inducing German settlers to take up the lands. He wrote to Mr. Hanbury as follows: "Whilst the unhappy state of my health called me back to our springs (at Bath in Virginia,) I conversed with all the Pennsylvania Dutch (Germans) whom I met, either there or elsewhere, and much recommended their settling in Ohio. The chief reason against it was the paying of an English clergyman, when few understood, and none made use of him. It has been my opinion, and I hope ever will be, that restraints on conscience are cruel, in regard to those on whom they are imposed, and injurious to the country imposing them. England, Holland, and Prussia, I may quote as examples, and much more Pennsylvania, which has flourished under that delightful liberty, so as to become the admira tion of every man, who considers the short time it has been settled. As the Ministry have thus far shown the true spirit of patriotism, by encouraging the extending of our dominions in America, I doubt not by an application they would still go farther, and complete what they have begun, by procuring some kind of charter to prevent the residents on the Ohio and its branches, from being subject to parish taxes. They all assured me, that they might have from Germany any number of settlers, could they but obtain their favorite exemption. I have promised to endeavor for it, and now do my utmost by this letter. I am well assured we shall never obtain it by a law here. This Colony was greatly settled in the latter part of Charles the First's time, and during the usur pation, by the zealous churchmen; and that spirit, which was then brought in has ever since continued, so that, except a few Quakers, we have no dissenters. But what has been the consequence? We have increased by slow degrees, except negroes and convicts, whilst our neighboring colonies, whose natural advantages are greatly inferior to ours, have become populous." A proposition was made by several Germans in Pennsylvania, that, if they could have the above exemption, they would take fifty thousand acres of the company's land, and settle it with two hundred families. Mr. Washington wrote likewise on the subject, to Governor Dinwiddie, then in England, who replied: "It gave me pleasure, that the Dutch (Germans,) wanted fifty thousand acres of land granted to the Ohio Company, and I observe what you write about their own clergymen, and your endeavor to have them freed from paying the Church of England. I fear this will be a difficult task to get over; and at present, the Par liament is so busy with public affairs, and the Ministry of course engaged, that we must wait some time before we can reply; but be assured of my utmost endeavors therein." No proof exists, that any other steps were taken in the affair. Soon after the treaty at Logstown, Mr. Gist was appointed the company's survevor, and instructed to lay off a town and fort, at Shurtees Creek, a little below the present site of Pittsburg, and on the east side of the Ohio. The company assessed on themselves four hundred pounds towards constructing the fort. In the meantime, Mr. Gist had fixed his residence on the other side of the Alleghenies, in the valley of the Monongahela, and induced eleven families to settle around him on lands, which it was presumed would be within the company's grant. The goods had come over from England, but had never been taken farther into the interior, than Will's creek, where they were sold to traders and Indians, who received them at that post. Some progress had been made in constructing a road to the Monongahela, but the temper of the Indians was such as to discourage an attempt to send the goods at the company's risk, to a more remote point. Things were in this state, when the troubles on the frontiers broke out between the French and English, involving on one side or the other the various Indian tribes. All further operations were suspended till towards the close of the war, when hostilities had nearly ceased on the Virginia frontier from the capture of Fort Duquesne, and weakened the efforts of the French. In 1760 a statement of the company's case was drawn up by Mr. John Mercer, Secretary to the Board, and forwarded to Mr. Charlton Palmer, a solicitor in London, who was employed by the company to apply to the King for such further orders and instructions to the government in Virginia, as might enable the company to carry their grant into execution. The business was kept in a state of suspense for three years, when the company resolved to send out an agent, with full powers to bring it as speedily as possible to a close. Col. George Mercer was selected for this commission, and instructed to procure leave for the company to take up their lands, according to the conditions of the original grant, or to obtain a reimbursement of the money, which had been paid on the faith of that grant. He repaired to London accordingly, and entered upon his charge. But at this time the counteracting interests of private individuals in Virginia, the claims of the officers and soldiers under Dinwiddie's proclamation, which extended to lands within the Ohio Company's grant; and moreover, the schemes and application of the proprietors of WALPOLE'S GRANT (noticed below) were obstacles not to be overcome. Col. Mercer remained six years in London, without making any apparent progress in the object of his mission, and at last he agreed to merge the interests of the OHIO COMPANY in those of WALPOLE's, or the GRAND COMPANY, as it was called on condition of securing to the former two shares in the latter, amounting to one thirty-sixth part of the whole. These terms were not approved by the members of the Ohio Company in Virginia, nor was it clear, that Col. Mercer's instructions authorized him to conclude such an arrange-. ment. While the subject was still in agitation, the Revolutionary War came on, and put an end, not only to the controversy, but to the existence of the two companies. Thus the Ohio Company was in action only |